Failing youth chapter 2

Chapter 2-Life Goes On

Konoha, despite its reputation for peace, was a place full of sound. Even during quieter times, the village was full of activity and bustle, whether it was Shinobi training among its streets, or people going about their daily business. With the main part of the Chuunin exams coming up and so many people from other countries wandering the town, things were especially busy, as the arena for the final test was readied and the entire village worked towards that goal.

Rock Lee stared out of the hospital window at the noise and the excitement, at the world going by, leaning on the crutch that would soon have to be a part of him.

He closed his eyes as he realised that he could never, ever be a part of that excitement and simple, youthful joy again.

The doctors had been clear about that.

Then he clenched his fist, despite the pain it brought him; what did a bunch of hopeless doctors' matter to him?!? He had never given up, NEVER! He-

Lee opened his eyes, breathing deeply. The doctors were right. No one had told him to give up; they had simply told him the damage, given him medicine. Being in the springtime of youth did not simply mean being free and joyous; it meant respecting others, no matter what they told him.

No matter that they told him what Gai-sensei already had; that he would never fight, could never lead the life of a ninja, again.

He sighed as he went over Gai-sensei's explanation yet again.

'Lee, your muscles were ripped by your Reverse Lotus, but they are healing. However', he had gone on hastily, seeing the sudden look of hope in Lee's eyes, 'the doctors tell me that fragments of bone are in your body...and they will not heal'.

Gai-sensei had looked Lee straight in the eye, and in that single, terrible moment, Lee had seen a face completely empty of the springtime of youth, no happiness, and no charm. Nothing.

'Lee...this is why you can never fight again. It...it will be impossible for you to lead a life in the shinobi way!' he had said in a flood of words, tears in his eyes, leaving Lee numb, with a pain far beyond any physical damage the sand-user had inflicted.

Lee was shaken from his thoughts by the hospital door opening and the now-familiar nurse sticking her head around the door with a smile, but Lee could see the concern in her eyes.

'Lee, you should be in bed! Those injuries will never heal if you're up all the time!'

Lee smiled back at her sadly. 'No, they will never heal' he murmured, more to himself than to her.

The nurse bustled around the room, tidying his bed and topping up the water jug, but Lee could tell that she was really there to check up on him. Many injured had come in from the Chuunin preliminaries, but Lee was by far the worse. Stories were already circulating about how he was doomed to never fight again....

Lee turned again to look out of the window as the nurse quietly closed the door behind her.

He would not allow his injuries to stop him from succeeding-and that meant he needed to train....

His body was a mess of pain. His entire universe had condensed to one, single point-the ground beneath him as it blurred in his vision. He gritted his teeth and blocked out the pain as he had done so many times before, concentrating on pulling and pushing himself down into the ground.

Up and down.

Nothing else mattered.

Dimly he was aware of people running towards him, calling on him to stop, but they were outside the point of his universe, and they could not be allowed to widen the tiny point everything had become. He called out to them: 'please do not interrupt me when I am training!'

Finally, with the pleading voices sounding in his ears, he could do no more, and the point of his universe faded into darkness.

Broken, ragged and bloody, Rock Lee lay sprawled in the dust.